我的白奶奶

白爷爷、白奶奶常常出现在我那段遥远记忆的闪回中。我四岁的时候就认识尹玮玲奶奶了，那时我们一家都住在南本德，我叫她白奶奶。我至今仍清晰地记得她家晚饭后的冰激淋，透过巨大的落地窗所看到的后院绿茵茵的一片草地……

白奶奶对我这个不太会说英语的中国小男孩总是那么耐心。她是一位知名教授，但这并不妨碍她坐在地上和我一起玩耍——当一个小男孩感到孤单时，有一位奶奶如此慈爱地对待他；这怎会让他忘怀！是的，这些记忆深深地镌刻在我心上，甚至在我们回国后的很长一段时间内，我始终想念着白爷爷和白奶奶；在我看来，他们比我的亲奶奶亲爷爷更慈爱；我的奶奶和爷爷还没有坐在地上陪我嬉戏过呢！

我最后一次见到白奶奶是在2017年初中毕业的那个暑假，我们全家从美西至美东，进行一次“巡回游”；当然，我们也去了南本德看望白奶奶和白爷爷。我和他们的交谈并不很多，因我的英文还不能运用自如。我心中暗想，三年后我要到美国读书，到时候去看望他们时，就可以畅谈了。然而，新冠疫情让我这个梦想无法实现；而现在白奶奶却已离我们去了天堂。但那天我们离开她家时，他们站在门口微笑着挥手道别的场景，深深地印在我的脑海中了；这幅美丽的图片，将伴随我终身。

 

The “Whitehead Grandma”

I knew Grandma Evelyn when I was four, when my family was staying in at South Bend in 2006. Among all the other distant memories, those moments related to “baiyeye” and “bainainai”, which in English means “Whitehead Grandma and Grandpa”, frequently come back to my mind.

I could remember the ice-creams after dinner, the backyard with tall grasses. Grandma Evelyn was always so patient with this little Chinese boy who did not even know how to speak English. As a renowned professor, she did not bother to sit on the ground and play with me. When you are so kind to a young child when he was lonely, he would remember for a whole life. At that time, even for a long time after returning to China, I really thought Grandma Evelyn, together with Grandpa Jim, were my grandparents, as my own grandparents were so faraway and never sat down and played with me, like what Evelyn did. The last time I met Grandma Evelyn was in 2017, when I graduated from junior and taking university tours across the States. We did not talk much, as my English was still not good enough for a fluent conversation. I made up my mind that I would return three years later with better English skills so that I could talk with them. However, due to the pandemic, I could not come. My last memory of her was when we left the house, she was smiling and waving at us, and this picture will always stay in my mind.